Missing From Screening List? Saudi Arabia

It's the country that was home to 15 of the 9/11 hijackers
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 10, 2009 4:34 PM CST
Missing From Screening List? Saudi Arabia
In this March 30, 2009 photo, airline passengers line up at the TSA security check at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Minn.   (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

There's a lot to criticize in the TSA's recent leak of an improperly redacted security manual. But the most outrageous vulnerability is an omission on the list of countries whose citizens are given extra scrutiny. "What's missing from the list? Saudi Arabia," writes Michael Smerconish. "You know, the home of 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11, 2001."

TSA targets Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, among others, but "sadly," writes Smerconish, the Saudis' "clout has been maintained throughout the eight-plus years since." "Indeed, the most alarming part of the TSA document story isn’t its unfortunate release. It’s the vulnerability it reveals," writes Smerconish on the Daily Beast. (More Transportation Security Administration stories.)

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